With the world battling the novel coronavirus and vaccination being the only way forward across the world, various incentives are being offered to boost the inoculation drive. However, in India, the incentive seems to have entered a quintessential desi institution — the arranged marriage.
In a matrimonial advertisement that has surfaced online, a woman who has taken the jab is looking for a vaccinated groom. In the viral ad, a 24-year-old self-employed woman claims to have received both doses of Covishield and is looking for a man who, along with other desirable traits, must be completely vaccinated. The cutout of the newspaper ad quickly garnered a lot of attention and broke the internet into splits.
It even caught the attention of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who shared the ad saying “No doubt the preferred marriage gift will be a booster shot!? Is this going to be our new normal?”
As soon as the ad went viral it raised several question and doubts about the genuineness of it. However, it turns out the ad was a “harmless” campaign launched by a man from Aldona, Goa, to influence people to get the Covid vaccine shot.
He originally shared the post on Facebook last week which had more than just the eye-catching matrimonial ad. Titled “The future of Matrimonials”, he shared with along a phone number of a vaccination centre, explaining the revised dates to get the second dose of the jab, after the interval was increased.